Pune: Private property owners have demanded compensation from the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for using their spaces as quarantine facility centres during the lockdown. An institute and a marriage hall owner have asked PMC to pay the charges including power utility bill and other expenses.
The compensation demanded so far from the PMC is amounting to Rs 2 crore. The PMC, on the other hand, is baffled by the approach of the owners. While the civic officials agree to pay for power consumption during this period, they have asked for clarity on this issue from the District Collector office.
PMC has acquired government as well as privately owned spaces, buildings like schools, Balewadi sports stadium complex, Sanas ground near Sarasbaug to establish quarantine facility centres to battle the COVID-19 outbreak crisis since March. Currently, PMC can quarantine 15500 patients at any given time in the entire city.
For establishing these quarantine centres, the PMC had acquired private buildings, institutions and spaces. The criteria for the acquisition was properties having separate bedrooms and toilets. These properties are underuse as quarantine facilities for the last three months.
While some owners have given their property for free, some had not made their stand clear in the initial days. Now, these owners have raised their demand for compensating for the property usage which has surprised PMC officials. The owners have stated in their letter that the PMC should pay them the power consumption and other charges as per government rules.
Deputy Commissioner Rajendra Muthe said, "An institute located on Sinhagad road has given a letter to PMC stating that it should be compensated as per government rules for the property usage. A marriage hall owner has also written to us for compensation. We agree that power consumption should be paid for, but for other services and charges, we have requested the District Collector for guidelines. We will make a decision once we receive those guidelines."
